METZ (France), Sept 26 : Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France beat Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3 in the final of the Moselle Open on Sunday to win his first title since 2009.
Tsonga hit a backhand drop shot to earn a break point that he converted with a backhand pass down the line to lead 2-1 in the final set. He clinched victory when Ljubicic double-faulted on match point.
The No. 10-ranked Tsonga won his sixth career title. It was his first since Tokyo two years ago, and improved his chances of earning a spot for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.Tsonga broke Ljubicic three times to take the first set on a backhand netted by the Croatian veteran.
Ljubicic could not repeat his serving heroics from the semifinals when he fired 26 aces to beat Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in straight sets on Saturday.
Tsonga seemed in control in the second set, ripping a backhand winner down the line to break serve and lead 3-1, but then double-faulted at 4-2 to help Ljubicic get back into the match.
Ljubicic slammed an ace to even the score at 4-4. He rallied from 4-2 down in the tiebreaker to level at one set apiece with a forehand winner before Tsonga came through the decider.Meanwhile, Jamie Murray of Britain and Andre Sa of Brazil beat Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 6-4, 7-6 (7) in the doubles final.AP
